Delegates to the 2015 Congress of Delegates here addressed a number of health policy issues, including making medications affordable for patients and conducting more research on marijuana. Other topics tackled included immunization exemptions and student loan repayment.

Affordable Medication

During the Reference Committee on Advocacy hearing on Sept. 28, family physicians discussed a pair of closely related resolutions that addressed the availability of affordable pharmaceuticals. The conversation was sparked, in part, by the recent news that Turing Pharmaceuticals had acquired the drug pyrimethamine (Daraprim) and immediately increased its price from $13.50 to $750 per tablet -- a jump of more than 5,000 percent.

KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 29, 2015 / Laguna Blends Inc. (the "Company" or "Laguna") (CNSX: LAG) is pleased to announce that it has received approval from Health Canada for three additional powdered flavours: PRO369 Chocolate Banana, Mixed Berry and Vanilla Caramel. On Sept. 22nd, 2015 Laguna announced that it had received approval for Pro369 Tropical Powder.

The Minister of Health has granted Laguna a product license along with a Natural Product Number ("NPN") for all four of the Pro369 Flavours. They are all listed under the same NPN.

Laguna intends to market the listed four powdered flavours of its unique hemp proteins through its planned affiliate network.

Two Native American tribes — the Menominee and Ho-Chunk — are working to legalise marijuana in Wisconsin.

Gabe Galanda, an attorney in Seattle, told the Guardian that the tribes would need to “make some kind of deal with the devil" as they draft a resolution supporting legal weed in the Badger State. 

“Tribal sovereignty means that state and local government have no say in the regulation of on-reservation affairs. Tribes that seek local and, in turn, federal support must either in letter or in spirit cede sovereignty to state and local government,” he said.

CEOs run companies, nominally at least, but if you are an investor, especially one who has cannabis shares on the OTC Markets, it would be wise to remember that the acronym can also mean chief executive optimist.

If you are holding shares of a cannabis company, positive news about the company’s progress and products are always welcome, but don’t confuse optimism for good news. You need relevant information to make investment decisions, not enthusiasm. Even negative news, albeit unwelcome, is still important to an investor so you can make a decision to withdraw or reinvest.

On Thursday, December 11, 2014, the United States Department of Justice changed the landscape of the legal marijuana industry. They decided that Native American tribes across the country can grow and sell marijuana on their sovereign lands and must follow the federal guidelines in the four states where recreational marijuana is legal.

The United States is home to 326 federally recognized reservations and 566 federally recognized tribes, most of which are located in states that ban the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.

A leader emerges

Pot and banking don’t mix, the Ohio Bankers League said Wednesday in opposing a November election proposal to legalize marijuana.

“Our board of directors voted to oppose state Issue 3 because of the conflict it would create between state and federal law,” Mike Adelman, league president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The league represents 200 large and small commercial and savings banks and savings and loan associations, with assets up to $3 trillion.

The three young men climbing into the pickup truck close to the Oregon border cheerfully acknowledged they were about to break federal law. But they won’t be doing it for much longer.

Anthony, Daniel and Chris bustled out of a marijuana shop in Vancouver, Washington, clutching bags of weed as they headed home a short drive over the bridge to Portland, Oregon.

Crossing state lines with drugs is a federal offence but that has not discouraged the steady stream of customers from Portland taking advantage of Washington’s legalisation of recreational marijuana sales last year.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Excited shoppers looking to score some of the first recreational marijuana sold legally in Oregon bought up baggies of bud early Thursday, taking advantage of door-buster prices and other deals.

Some of the more than 250 dispensaries that already offer medical marijuana in the state welcomed recreational users soon after midnight — just moments after it became legal to sell to anyone who is at least 21.

At Shango Premium Cannabis in Portland, co-founder Shane McKee said the first sale came about a minute after midnight and many others quickly followed.

"I think it's not only historical for folks in Oregon, but nationwide — anytime people start selling that as an alternative to alcohol or tobacco," he said in a telephone interview.

SAN FRANCISCO — Visitors may be awed by the ubiquity and openness of people smoking and vaping cannabis in public here — from cafes and bars to parks and passing cars.

But where can cannabis users consume more discreetly — and have access to high-grade cannabis and state-of-the-art vaporizer technology?

Several San Francisco medical cannabis dispensaries offer, to varying degrees, working models for socialized public consumption of cannabis, providing lounge areas where qualified patrons vaporize — and in some cases smoke cannabis — never mind the local ordinance against the latter.

When Oregon begins the first legal sales of recreational marijuana on Oct. 1, I'll be thinking about my Dad. He's a major reason I became a state lawmaker and have been helping implement Oregon's new marijuana law.

During the 1980s recession, Dad stopped taking a salary at the family rock crushing business. It was the only way he and my uncles could keep M.C. Lininger and Sons afloat. Mom warned that if the business closed, we might have to leave the Rogue Valley, where our family has lived for generations. Southern Oregon's economy was withering, and in many cases, the jobs never came back.